Shin Shin Architecture creates California retail space and workshop for e-motorbike maker Cake

Cake’s Californian HQ is a sleek retrofit, an ideal canvas to display the Swedish brand’s range of rugged electric motorbikes

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CAKE HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects
Cake HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects
(Image credit: Eric Staudenmaier)

Venice, California, is the location of Cake’s flagship American showroom, offering up 4,000 sq ft of space for the Swedish electric motorbike company to flex its zero-emission wares in what was once the capital of combustion.

Electric motorbikes inside CAKE HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects

(Image credit: Eric Staudenmaier)

Cake’s recipe for urban mobility extends from electric mopeds to cargo delivery bikes, utility machines and more. Founded in 2016 by Stefan Ytterborn, the company’s global reach recently extended to the West Coast with this new showroom on the Pacific Coast Highway. 

Inside Cake HQ, California, by Shin Shin

e-motorbikes inside CAKE HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects

(Image credit: Eric Staudenmaier)

Designed by LA and Detroit-based architects Shin Shin, the new space is a fitting HQ, offering up a minimal frontage to the famous highway, with two large windows to tantalise nose-to-tail traffic with crisply minimal examples of Cake’s delectable wares.

Staff at desks at CAKE HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects

(Image credit: Eric Staudenmaier)

In addition to the showrooms, Cake HQ includes an office area, meeting rooms, workshops, as well as an outdoor lounge with all-important test-ride stations. It’ll be followed by outposts in New York and San Francisco, also designed by Shin Shin.

Outside area at lit-up CAKE HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects

(Image credit: Eric Staudenmaier)

Melissa Shin and her team have taken Cake’s core values on board, transforming an existing warehouse (previously used as a nightclub) into a sleek space that pairs minimal finishes with exposed elements of the existing structure. The watchwords ‘light, quiet and clean’ were deployed throughout, ensuring the Cake’s Swedish roots showed through with style.

CAKE HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects

(Image credit: Eric Staudenmaier)

It’s also worth noting that the new HQ stands across the road from a large Harley Davidson dealership; although the iconic American bikes are slowly making the shift to electric power, they’re still a world apart from Cake’s skeletal, utilitarian aesthetic.

electric motorbike in white space inside CAKE HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects

(Image credit: Eric Staudenmaier)

Their bikes are effectively showcased in the lab-like main space, which has white painted brick walls and an acrylic floor, contrasting with the exposed wooden ceiling above. Custom-designed tables bear merchandise and key components, while display areas are given over to the company’s social and charitable initiatives around the world.

electric motorbikes at CAKE HQ, Venice, California, by Shin Shin Architects

(Image credit: Eric Staudenmaier)

Cake, RideCake.com

Shin Shin Architecture, ShinShinArch.com

General contractor, KCC

Jonathan Bell

Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.